The continued development of the recorders
In the 1940s Franz Küng progressively gives up tuning pianos and turns away from the music house. Instead he focuses on the further development of the recorders. By the end of the 1940s he already builds school flutes in 415 Hz (soprano and alto) upon request of Ina Lohr of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (year of establishment also 1933).
In 1951 he wins his first awards for his alto and bass recorders. This is followed by further development of present models right up to the great bass.
He creates the model masterpiece, instruments in all sizes, which are manufactured in exotic kinds of wood such as palisander (rosewood), grenadilla and tulipwood, often elaborately decorated with ivory. A good connection into the USA provides an enormous amount of sales with the years. In the 1960s the annual units of quantity are as high as 70,000.
Strong commitment
Despite his 18 employees Franz Küng does the crucial steps in production such as fitting the fiddle into the mouthpiece and manually tuning each instrument by himself. In addition he leads and controls the manufactory, develops machines, performs the maintenance and repairs all alone. This all sums up to 16- to 18-hour workdays throughout the years.
A change in production
A radical cut changes the situation: The school flutes with the particular German fingering are taken out of the program. That’s about half of the manufactory’s production. This is a courageous decision taken by the end of the 1960s.
Rebuilding phase in the company
The 1960s are defined by a big upheaval. Fanz Küng’s youngest son Thomas starts his apprenticeship as a precision mechanic and flute maker at his father’s company. The elder son Andreas studies old music and the recorder at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis after graduating from high school.
At the same time, the company is changing and rebuilding itself in many areas. The old villa gets a whole new floor and expands to two sides.
Even without the huge amount of flutes with the German fingering the manufactory’s production takes up such a great deal of time that there is only little time left for the development and improvement of existing models. A number of deficiencies in testing and tuning remain in place too long - the quality and the good name suffer.
First recorders after Denner
During Andreas’ studies at Hans Martin Linde’s, the first copies as referred to Denner arise: The alto flute after J.C. Denner, the sopranino after I. Denner and a flûte de voix are newly produced.
After the first participation at the festival in Brügge in 1974 (Franz Küng in the role of the exhibitor and Andreas Küng as a competition participant) the subbass CLASSICA is developed and comes on to the market in 1975/76. Various sizes of historically inspired models, all in 415 and 440 Hz, sopranino, sixthflute, soprano (after Haka), flûte du quatre, alto and flûte de voix are developing as a result.
The 1980s
In 1980 there is another big renovation and addition to the factory to follow.
1983 Franz Küng dies at the age of 77 in the factory. He has never retired and worked day in day out even long after his two sons had already been fully integrated in his manufactory.
